Erik Karlsson returns to ‘forever city’ after traumatic year

Sharks star is back in Ottawa to face Senators

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San Jose Sharks’ Erik Karlsson (65) talks a player from the Calgary Flames before a face-off in the second period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

Eighteen months ago, he led the Ottawa Senators to within a goal of the Stanley Cup Final almost singlehandedly, flying around the ice like a Superman on skates with dashing good looks to boot. The world was his oyster.

Now, after a string of personal hardships, including a trade away from the town he calls his “forever city,” Karlsson is getting a fresh start in San Jose. As Karlsson returns to Ottawa for the first time since September’s blockbuster trade, the Sharks are hoping he rekindles the magic he created in Canada’s capitol and brings the first Stanley Cup to the Bay Area.

“I’m excited for this new experience,” Karlsson said. “I’m not in Ottawa anymore, so you just have to deal with it and make the most of the opportunity to play hockey with the Sharks.”

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The Karlsson-Ottawa love affair began in 2008 when the Senators, hosting the NHL draft, chose Karlsson with the 15th-overall pick. His boyhood hero growing up in Sweden, the guy that inspired him to choose the Senators when he played NHL video games, Daniel Alfredsson, announced his selection from the stage.

“It’s something I’ll remember for a lifetime,” Karlsson said last week.

The pick was met with skepticism. The fan base wanted the Senators to make a big splash. Instead, they got what they perceived to be a ripple. At 5-foot-10, 157 pounds, Karlsson was considered a runt in a league that still favored beefy defensemen from the Canadian prairies. A column in the Ottawa Sun ran a headline with a quote calling Karlsson a “garbage pick.”

But the charismatic Swede quickly endeared himself to the Senators faithful. He played a fast, creative style of hockey, always smiling, dancing on the bench, infecting fans with the fun he brought to the rink. A pair of Norris Trophy seasons (2012, 2015) followed.

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The snowy Canadian winters and friendly small-town vibe reminded Karlsson of his hometown of Landsbro, Sweden, a town of roughly 1,500 people. Alfreddson, who played 17 years in Ottawa, took Karlsson into his home, showed him around, helped him adapt to a new way of life in North America. In August 2017, Karlsson put down some serious roots, marrying Melinda Currey, a business consultant who grew up in town and graduated from Carleton, a local university.

“Now it’s my home,” said Karlsson, who plans to return to Ottawa in his offseasons. “It feels so much like Sweden in a sense. It’s a small community. Everybody knows everyone in some aspect. It’s very friendly. Going there gave me a sense of comfort even though I didn’t really know it at the time.”

But after Karlsson, 28, carried the Senators to double overtime of Game 7 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Final, a series of events began to unfold, one of them unimaginably bad.

On March 19, Axel Michael Karlsson, the couple’s first child, was stillborn.

Karlsson posted an Instagram photo of Axel’s baby footprints and thanked Ottawa for its love and support. Then someone left a message in the comment section accusing Melinda of “popping painkiller medication everyday.”

Karlsson responded within seven minutes: “How dare you. You have been making fake accounts and buying hacked ones for months to harass me and my wife but this is an all-new low even for you. You are a disgusting person.”

The accusation and Karlsson’s response took on new life in June when the Ottawa Citizen reported that Melinda Karlsson filed an order of protection against the fiancé of Senators forward Mike Hoffman. Melinda Karlsson accused Monika Caryk of launching a campaign of cyber harassment against the couple, wishing their unborn child dead and calling for someone to take out her husband’s legs and end his career.

According to the sworn statement, Caryk allegedly posted more than 1,000 negative message directed at the Karlsson’s. Both Hoffman and Caryk have denied the allegations. No criminal charges have been filed.

In July, the Senators reportedly made an offer worth around $10-million annually. Karlsson didn’t respond. That was the last domino that fell before his trade to the Sharks on the eve of training camp for Chris Tierney, Dylan DeMelo, prospects Rudolfs Balcers and Josh Norris and a pair of draft picks.

Karlsson’s emotional press conference recalled memories of Wayne Gretzky’s teary-eyed farewell to the city of Edmonton after his trade to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988. A small Canadian city was heartbroken. TSN-radio took calls until 3 a.m. that day, an endless string of people venting about the trade, vowing to give up their season tickets.

With watery eyes and a tremble in his voice, Karlsson said goodbye to his “forever city,” admitting that in his “wildest imagination” he never thought he’d leave the place where he evolved from a scrawny teenager into a global superstar.

“He told people that he thought Melnyk was selling the team, Alfredsson was stepping in as president and he was going to be here forever,” Brennan said. “When it didn’t actually happen, he was genuinely surprised.”

Within a few days, Karlsson arrived in San Jose, threw on a teal sweater and started integrating himself into a new community and a team with an established core of superstars.

As happened in Ottawa with Alfredsson, Karlsson is getting help with the transition from a fellow Swede he admires. Former Sharks defensemen Douglas Murray is playing the Alfredsson role in San Jose, helping Karlsson get a feel for the area, find a place to live and make connections in the community. Murray and Karlsson first met about eight years ago during the offseason in Stockholm.

“We go way back. It was one of those instant friendships,” Murray said. “The most important part is getting comfortable. Just as important as it is for him, it’s important for Melinda. I try to be just as much there for her as for Erik.”

Sharks coach Pete DeBoer knows the Karlssons’s pain. DeBoer and his wife lost a child a week before birth in 2002.

“It’s much more difficult to get through than people think, especially for his wife,” DeBoer said. “He has a lot on his plate. You get three, four hours where you can come to the rink and forget about it. But our wives don’t get that luxury. That’s the hard piece.”

Karlsson acknowledged that he’s facing the most-challenging year of his life and doing his best to forge ahead.

“That’s life. You go through some hard things. Everybody does. Even if you’re a hockey player,” he said.

On the ice, Karlsson is starting to find individual success after going 20 games without scoring a goal to open the season. He has eight points in his last eight games, but the Sharks are struggling to find consistency, attempting to play a more aggressive style of game with his addition. Through 26 games, they’re 12-9-5, riding a three-game losing streak into Karlsson’s homecoming Saturday.

Trailing the first-place Calgary Flames by just one point in the Pacific Division, the Sharks remain a Stanley Cup contender. But if they underperform, the Karlsson experiment could be a one-year project. Will they be willing to invest north of $11 million per year in a defenseman when they’ve committed $90 million to Brent Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic through 2024-25? Will their priorities shift to re-signing Joe Pavelski?

And what about Karlsson; will he have an appetite to sign an extension with the Sharks if the trade is considered a bust? Will he want to test his value on the open market?

At this point, Karlsson insists that those questions will be answered down the road. Canned response or not, he isn’t offering any tells.

“We really like it here. This is a nice place,” Karlsson said of San Jose. “But it’s not a thing I’m thinking about right now.”